Here’s my idea for a type of road which grows and purposefully breaks over time to transform itself from smooth roads into classier Parisian-style cobblestones as the surrounding neighbourhood changes over time.

Basically, when a road is newly paved or redone, saplings are planted on top of a root guide at specific nodal flex points alongside a street. Then the pavement poured around these nodes and into the street is perforated in such a way that, over time, as the tree grows it’s roots will be guided to push out and up and break the road surface along those perforations in a controlled way.

Breaking up the perforations will create a cobblestone effect that will act as a traffic calming measure to encourage pedestrian use around the same time desired walkable access to nearby activities and amenities are developed. Additionally, local grasses planted in the perforations along with the highly permeable nature of the system, act to effectively absorb excess storm-water to prevent runoff and overloading sewage systems

Earlier in the summer I submitted this idea to an architectural ideas competition too, posting it here I’ve tried to simplify it somewhat. I’m no CAD or 3D jockey, so I played to my own style when creating the illustrations for the presentation:

I went to the same shop that where I get my photos developed (ElPro). The down side is that you have to wait a day or two for it, the upsides, compared to normal document/academic print shops is that because they usually print photos (as opposed to documents or cheap posters), you get your large format work printed on thick and lustrous photo-quality paper, get to use RGB (wider gamut and easier to profile?), at a good price.

Yeah, so I’m happy with it.

Apparently BMW made this Isetta 300 eons ago. It’s absolutely fantastic and I want one. A feeling I certainly have never had for most of the other crummy small city cars of today. BMW: Bring back the Isetta please!

Also from the same Wired Article:

omgwtfbbq cuuuuuuuuuuuute!

I don’t know niche or common my way of doing things is but I thought I’d share my photography experience and process for fun. I started taking pictures with a digital camera years ago (3 megapixels YAY!). I remember taking 2 hour trips to get downtown and just snap at everything and anything on a busy downtown street - some of that may still be in my flickr somewhere. Anyways, after I’d filled it’s massive 256mb CF card, I’d sort the pictures into to folders and then online. Later after getting a mac and going to China (I forget which came first), I used iPhoto and was amazed at how much better you could make photos look with some simple tweaking. That saturation slider wowed me good. Those were pretty asinine days.

So to fast forward a bit, I wanted to try this ‘film’ thing people were saying was dead to get that whole ‘bokeh’ thing a digicam couldn’t do. I got a cheap olympus OM1 SLR and back then it was all about f/1.8! 50mm! Shoot everything wide open and aspire to art! Those were pretty nerdy times. When Apple released Aperture, I jumped on it right away, “Look at how pro it looks - and shiny!” I probably exclaimed in my head. I learned everything about it and all it’s many fancy settings and all was well. Then Adobe Lightroom came out and I switched over because it had better image editing and it could actually run on my computer. Unfortunately, even today, it’s image organizing sucks balls; you’re constantly going from ‘develop’ mode to ‘library’ mode where you can only use some features of the program in each mode, and metadata things like picture titles and descriptions are buried and annoying to use.

So for the longest while, I’ve been constantly switching between the two programs, never really satisfied with either. As a consequence, half my photos are in Aperture and the other in Lightroom and I have no idea which ones are in which because I’ve switched so often :@ . I ended up relying on Flickr to look through my own photos. This sucks for two reasons, firstly that browsing lots of photos online is slow and more annoying. But secondly and more important is that it’s my own photos that teach me and encourage me to keep going and try new things. Looking at other peoples photos is fun and educational too, but you either start feeling intimidated by their skill/equipment/etc. and feel you need the same, or you feel hopeless. Inspired by others who enjoy a more analogue and tactile process, I also tried making 4×6 prints. These turned out fantastically good, but I had no real way to share theme or organize and transport too many. Trying to scan the negatives myself of those rolls (to save money) also went nowhere, I used a Minolta film scanner at UofT and it was craptacular - I wasted three hours and had a single roll of film scanned that looked like dandruffy crap to show for it. Never again. In short, what I’m trying to say is that without being able to easily enjoy the fruits of your own labour, you will burn out.

Today, I only use mainly one camera, a Ricoh GR1v film camera which is a quirky little magnesium guy with excellent metering, perfect (to me) ergonomics and a fast but mentally retarded AF system. I really enjoy using it. I also like to think that if Ricoh Camera Japan had a corporate slogan it would be something like “RICOH: We make weird little cameras for weird people like you.”

So after shooting a roll of film with my Ricoh I get the roll developed and scanned onto a CD. Unfortunately, I don’t live in a world city like Tokyo or Paris, so finding a good developer here in Toronto is a real trial and error kind of challenge. When I started out in Scarberia, I used the Fuji place at PMall which did it all for 5$ in an hour or so. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for and later I also tried much better labs downtown. I’ve tried Aden Camera, Downtown Camera and a couple others but wasn’t really happy until I found a small, friendly and high quality place called ElPro Photo which charges about 9$ a roll to develop and scan. Basically, a good way to tell if a developer is good is if they sell or develop medium format (120 size) film - if they do or at least know what it is then they’ll be less likely to half-ass it.

With the CD I get back, I put it into a university computer or Cara’s iMac to transfer to my computer (my Macbook Air doesn’t have a CD drive). I’ve rediscovered the simplicity of iPhoto again. Because the film developer does most of the major image adjustments (I like ElPro because they keep the photo as neutral as possible), all I do in iPhoto is small tweaks. Usually I just click the magic wand thing and adjust the shadows (film has deeper blacks than digital and iPhoto doesn’t understand that so you have to always keep it in check). I import my scanned film into iphoto one roll at a time, which creates an event that I name with the camera and the film I was using as well as any important tips or characteristics I’m seeing from the film. So for example, “GR1 - Agfacolour 100 Ultra (expired: yellow tendency, highlight blowout, underexposed high grain)“. I do it this way because on a single roll of film you may have lots of little things going on like 5 shots of a birthday party and others which are just daily life. Obviously separating these small events would just be too much time and clutter. But more importantly I like to think that every camera and every film has it’s own unique charm and character. It’s just how I remember and think about them, so organizing them this way and chronologically makes perfect sense in my head.

One other thing I do in iPhoto as I edit, is that I using star ratings to keep of track of the ones I like. Things I rate as 1 star, usually half the roll, are crappy pictures that I’ll either hide or delete. That way when I scroll around looking at my past work for inspiration to keep moving forward, I see only my better stuff and not let all the mistakes and regrets of the past keep me down. So to illustrate, my iPhoto looks like this (except bigger):

Now the final challenge is how to get it all into Flickr. I used to upload them one by one over a long period of time to not overwhelm people, but I guess that kind of nothing and then lots rhythm is just a part of shooting film so I figure I won’t worry about it so much. Within iPhoto, Apple now has a Flickr export function which is really simple to use and syncs metadata both ways which is cool. However it has a lot of flaws and weird design decisions which make it only useful to people who shoot film rolls, and to people who only use a camera for special events (birthdays, vacations, etc.) and for nothing else.

* I think I’m kind of a hypocrite, because on one hand I say dSLRS are too big and on the other I secretly would love to own a Leica MP or Contax G2 camera. But those ones are pretty and I’m shallow!

(Sorry for the length, I had in mind a much shorter article but it just kept going on and on …)

p.s. The Ceci N’est Pas Une Mixtape by Kitsune Noir is fantastically good. Very Paris, Very Classy.

Like so many exploding, penetrating, intercoursing triangles, my ailing macbook air out of the blue decided to take a mental health moment. Here are screenshots I got before it all seized up, every time I moved the mouse around the whole thing would rapidly and seemingly randomly reconfigure itself - it was actually pretty cool, very modern art installation-esque. After a reset, all is seemingly well again…

(I was shopping around, considering buying a Fuji Instax mini cam at the time)

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the Chinese sneaker brand Feiyue, which I hear is really great for martial arts. I was surprised to learn that there is a store in Toronto which sells them and I kinda really am interested in trying a pair of these mysterious shoes no one here as heard of on. That being said, it’s not hard to imagine that part of what keeps the culture of imitation in China today going so strong is the low desire & cachet that locally branded goods hold both at home and abroad.

I once read somewhere that Japanese artists (photographers specifically I think), remain relatively obscure locally until they make a name for themselves in the western and european markets - and then suddenly, everyone at home wants a piece of them. I don’t know how exact it is for sure and how similar other Asian cultural markets are, but to draw the obvious parallel: maybe Chinese luxury & fashion brands may be able to create local desire only indirectly by generating foreign desire first or synchronously?

Off the top of my head, it’s hard to think of any Chinese identified brands or products that don’t try and sell themselves here by drawing on cliche stereotypical images of an Ancient, Mystical and Mysterious Orient no one really cares about. It would take a lot of effort to change peoples conceptions here overseas to the value of Chinese goods, but it certainly isn’t impossible either.

We’d climb the stairs to the second floor and all take a seat on the floor, leaning on the wall if you were lucky. Then someone would come in and guide the group. Close your eyes. Imagine a garden. It’s just you and the opening flowers. Blah blah etc. add it to my already long list of childhood mental anguish. I couldn’t figure out why people would just want to sit still and not do anything, and even now it’s still strikes me as a little odd. I get quiet reflection, and peace and quiet, but not the whole ‘lets all meditate like this’ kind of thing. Back then, when I asked about it, I’d get that favorite parental catchphrase: “you’ll understand when you’re older.”

I’ve never been good at staying in one position for very long, the blood rushes out of my folded feet and my legs fall asleep despite my best efforts. One of the last times we went, this happened without me realizing it, leading to some pretty embarrassing tumbles down onto some of the more dedicated meditates. Blessing in disguise?

Years later, and maybe now more than ever it’s not an uncommon complaint to hear from people that they find they have too much to do, that their lives buzz with an almost painful alacrity. Thinking about it now, and maybe I have sort of the opposite problem, I’m always finding new things to be interested in and passionate about and moving on from one thing to the next. But I feel like I never accomplish anything that great because I’m always switching focus. Probably why I majored in both Biology and Urban Planning, why I can’t decide whether to spend time on writing, illustrating, painting, photography, martial arts, endurance running, learning to play the alto sax, debating whether I should buy a motorbike (or an iphone), and plenty of other stuff that aren’t off the top of my head.

When I started writing this post, I thought it would end with the theme of how screwed I am. Now, I’m tempted to end it by saying that I want to only focus on some of those specific things (like three or four) and shove the rest into the ether.

* I like photography, but not enough, I find that the amount of effort I put into it just doesn’t justify what I end up getting back. The real value to photography to me came when I limited myself to using only one camera with a wide angle only lens. Photography in this style, pushes me to not care so much about what other people think and be more extroverted and outgoing. As a means of original self expression however, I don’t think I have that special something for photography. So I officially delegate it to the realm of fun, like videogames, not something I should take as seriously as I sometimes do.

* Illustration is something I find very difficult and challenging but so rewarding as well. My portfolio of work is pretty small and simple, but each time I finish a large project, it’s almost tangible how much my skill improves for the next one. I kind of stopped for a long while though… after I mailed to ask how I could be a better applicant to reapply to the Architecture grad program at UofT and they basically told me that I shouldn’t bother because every part of my application - especially the portfolio - was crap.

I’d also like to get into printing more too (except for a Kikkoman sushi poster, my apartment walls are naked), but I wish printing services weren’t so expensive - I had a really crappy experience the last time I tried to print a poster using shiny silver inks.
(As an aside, I’m planning to apply to Urban Strategies next year for their summer internship program and a good portfolio will help too.)

* I also love writing, and I’ve always had this feeling deep down that I want to write something of real substance one day. I don’t care so much about being a novelist - I just want to write a novel. I don’t think I’m at that level yet though, life experience and skill wise, but I will be one day.

* The way ones body works is connected to how ones mind works. You have to keep your body fit to keep your mind fit, or vice versa, or in some way they each strongly influence each other. I think I got the idea from Murakami, but it’s one of those things that feels so inherently true. Really, I’m pretty simple, I learn best through physical experiences, and I don’t really spend to much time thinking about things that I can’t see, touch and smell. When my body feels like crap, so does the rest of me which is why I push myself to working out as much as I do - It’s still about always getting stronger, faster, better, but I guess now (in my semi old age) there’s this mental well being component to it too.

I tried to be direct, but this still turned into a long post, sorry bout that. I mostly wrote this for myself, but hope that you’ve enjoyed it.

p.s. one thing I remember about that old meditation building is that on the landing of the stairs going up to the second floor, they had an old timey soda vending machine. The kind of thing that was way old fashioned even when I first saw it ten years ago. Neat.

I’m a huge fan of biophilia and I think one solution to both improve public space and our experience of it is to better combine nature and relaxing.

p.s. I kinda like how the kebab shop in an alley near the Toronto Reference Library has a cozy little bench in front of it.